Toothbrush having pivotal bristle carrying members



7, 1968 A. RASHBAUM 3,398,421

TOOTHBRUSH HAVING PIVOTAL BRISTLE CARRYING MEMBERS Filed March 28, 1967 FIG. 3

45 w INVENTOR ABBA/14M Pail/64) 40 42 4/ BY i ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,398,421 TGOTHBRUSH HAVING PIVOTAL BRISTLE CARRYING MEMBERS Abraham Rashbaum, 199-29 22nd Ave., Whitestone, N.Y. 11357 Filed Mar. 28, 1967, Ser. No. 626,461 6 Claims. (Cl. -167) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A toothbrush device having a handle portion, the device being characterized by one or more bristle carrier members movably supported on the handle, the bristle tufts of the carrier members being arranged in a generally U- shaped conformation. I

In use, the tufts defining the base of the U engage the crown of the tooth while the branch portions of the U- shaped tufts engage the sides of the tooth and rubber tips are provided to massage the gums.

Where two or more bristle carrier members are pivotally connected to the handle, the carriers, by reason of their relative articulation, are free to conform to the degree of curvature of the row of teeth in the particular area being brushed.

Summary of the invention Various preferred brushing techniques have been devised whereby the maximum benefit of tooth brushing may be achieved. Despite the wide promulgation of such tooth brushing techniques, the vast majority of the population continues to utilize the less effective back and forth technique, due primarily, it may be assumed, to the greater ease with which such operation is accomplished. The back and forth method, while effective in cleaning the mating portions of the crown surfaces of the teeth, is less effective with respect to the sides of the teeth. Moreover, the danger of abrasions and consequent infections of the sensitive gingival areas'adjacent the neck of the teeth and other month areas is greater when the back and forth method of brushing is used, than with recommended methods, since considerable care is required to prevent the bristles of the brush from slipping from its contact with the tooth crown and rubbing against the gum and adjacent areas.

With the foregoing in mind, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved toothbrush.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a brush which may be used with back and forth strokes to achieve, in a measure, the beneficial elfects heretofore available only with the preferred up and down stroking or pivoting action, and in which a gum massaging action is achieved.

Still a further object of the invention is the provision of an improved toothbrush of the type described whereby the danger of brushing too deeply and impinging the bristle tufts into the junction between the neck of the teeth and the gum areas, either through the exercise of undue pressure or the slipping of the brush off the crown of the tooth is eliminated.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a brush of the class described with removable bristle carrier members which are free to pivot relative to each other so that the carrier members when moved along a row of teeth may be pivoted at varied angular relations to each other, the pivotal movement possible between the carriers and the handle permitting the bristles to conform to the curvature of that portion of the teeth being brushed.

To attain these objects and such further objects as may appear herein or be hereinafter pointed out, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof, in which:

3,398,421 Patented Aug. 27, 1968 ice FIG. 1 is a plan view of a toothbrush in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the brush of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged section taken on line 33 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a section similar to FIG. 3 through a different embodiment of the invention, and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary side elevational view of still a further embodiment of the invention.

Description of the preferred embodiments In accordance with the invention, a toothbrush comprising a handle 10 having a gripping end 11 and a head or brush end 12 is provided, with one or more bristle car riers 13. The bristle carrier 13 is preferably generally U- shaped in section, including side walls 14, 15 extending outwardly or upwardly from the base 16. The undersurface 17 of the carrier 13 is provided with a substantially semi-spherical socket 18 forming part of the connection of the carrier to the handle 10.

The carrier 13, which is preferably formed of a resilient plastic member having high plastic memory characteristics, such as nylon, for example, supports tufts or groups of bristles 19, 20, 21 extending from the side walls 14, 15 and base 16, respectively. The innermost or free ends of the bristle tufts approach but do not engage each other. Preferably, rubber tips T extend inwardly from the upper ends of side walls 14, 15 to effect a massaging-action on the gums.

While in the illustrated embodiment, two carrier members are shown mounted on a single handle and such number has been found to be preferred, it will be readily understood that certain of the objectives may be achieved by using a single bristle carrier. Also, a number of such carriers in excess of two may be used.

The carrier members 13 are retained on the handle by seating the ball member 22 formed at the end of stud 23, within the socket 18. The ball and socket connection between the carrier and handle permits a considerable degree of articulation of the parts. In order to limit the degree of articulation, side walls 24, 25 are provided on the handle, the Walls 24, 25 being disposed in parallel spaced relation with respect to the side walls 14, 15 of the carrier member 13.

As best seen by the dot and dash lines in FIG. 1, the degree of pivotal movement of the carriers 13 about an axis perpendicular to the plane of the toothbrush handle 10 is limited by the side walls 24, 25. However, a sufficient amount of movement is permitted to allow the carrier members to orient themselves angularly one with respect to the other where the device is used, for instance, for brushing a row of teeth which lie in an arcuate or nonlinear relation to each other.

Also, the ball and socket connection permits pivoting of the carriers on the studs to accommodate the carriers to variations in the height of the row of teeth.

In the embodiment of FIG. 4 wherein like parts have been given like numerals primed, the construction is varied by providing on the walls 24', 25 inwardly directed lip portions 26, 27. The base 16' of the U-shaped bristle carrier 13 is, in this embodiment, spaced from the securing socket 18' a distance defined by the length of neck portion 28.

A pair of laterally directed abutment shoulders 29, 30 are disposed within the channels 31, 32 in the brush handle between the lip portions 26, 27, respectively, and the back of the head end 12. of the toothbrush.

As will be readily recognized from the embodiment of FIG. 4 the carrier members 13 must be moved laterally for insertion into the channels 31, 32, with the abutment shoulders 29, 30 above the plane of ball 22 and the carrier is locked in position by pressing the carrier downand the socket 18'. The pivotal movement of the carrier member of this embodiment is limited by the engagement of the abutment shoulders 29, 30 against the upstanding side walls or legs 24', 25'.

The advantage of the embodiment of FIG. 4 is that it reduces the likelihood of accidentally dislodging one of the carriers, particularly under the forces generated by excessively vigorous brushing action.

The device is used by pressing the bristle tufts downwardly over a row of teeth, whereby the teeth will be sequentially disposed within the space defined between the side tufts 19 and 20 and the bottom tuft 21. When thus disposed, the side tulfts 19 and 20 will clean the sides of the teeth, the tuft 21 will clean the crown of the teeth and the rubber tips T will massage the gums. Due to the U-shaped conformation of the bristle tufts, the teeth are centered between the tufts with the bottom tuft 21 acting as a depth gauge to assure that the side tufts will not abrade or irritate the gums.

Similarly, the U-shaped conformation prevents the toothbrush from slipping off during brushing and abrading against the inner check of the user or portions of the gum thereadjacent.

The ability of the carrier portions to articulate with respect to each other, particularly about an axis perpendicular to plane of the brush handle, increases the cleaning efiiciency of the brush by permitting it to conform to the tooth line.

In the embodiment of FIG. 5, wherein like parts are given like reference numerals to the previously described embodiments, the handle 11 is mounted to the brush head 12 by a pivot assembly 40 comprising spaced legs 41 extending from the rear of the brush head. The portion of handle 11 adjacent end 43 lies between the legs 41 and is pivotally mounted as at 42. The handle is thus permitted to pivot a full 180 relative to the head 12 (in the direction of the arrows) to enable the user to readily reverse the direction of brushing, shift the hand used to brush, etc.

As many changes could be made in the above constructions, and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope of the claims, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A toothbrush device comprising an extended handle, a plurality of bristle carrier members mounted on said handle adjacent an end thereof, each of said carrier members including a backing portion disposed generally in the plane of said handle and spaced parallel side wall portions emanating from said backing portion and extending away from said plane, said backing and side wall portions defining a generally U-shaped conformation, said carrier members being spaced apart and having the side walls thereof normally disposed in parallel with the longitudinal axis of said handle, a bristle tuft extending into the interior of each said carrier member from said backing portion and said side walls, the free ends of each of said tufts being disposed in spaced relation to said other tufts, and interconnecting means-interposed be tween and releasably retaining each of saidcarrier members on said handle end, said interconnecting means permitting limited pivotal movement of each of said carrier members independently of the other with respect to said handle about a pivot axis perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of said handle, whereby said carrier members may be angularly oriented one to the other to conform to the contours of a row of teeth.

2. A device in accordance with claim 1 wherein said interconnecting means comprises a universal joint connection permitting relative pivotal movement of said handle and carrier members in a multiplicity of planes.

3. A device in accordance with claim 1 wherein said handle and carrier members include opposed limit stop walls for limiting said pivotal movement of said carrier members with respect to said handle.

4. A device in accordance with claim 1 wherein'said interconnecting means comprises a snap fit ball and socket connection.

5. A device in accordance with claim 1 wherein said handle adjacent said end includes opposed, inwardly directed lip members, and said carrier member defines opposed, outwardly opening clearance slots, said lip members being received within said slots to limit outward movement of said carrier members with respect to said handle.

6. A device in accordance with claim 1 wherein said handle has a separate end portion and holding portion, said bristle carrier members being mounted on said holding portion, said holding portion of said handle being secured to said end portion of said handle by a pivot connection member having a pivot axis disposed substantially parallel to the plane of the backing portion of said carrier members and at right angles to the longitudinal axis of said holding portion of said handle.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,137,916 5/1915 Simmons 15--167 1,616,484 2/ 1927 Beynon 15167 1,690,706 11/ 1928 Silberstang 15172 2,807,820 10/1957 Dinhofer 15110 XR FOREIGN PATENTS 567,145 12/ 1923 France.

29,592 12/1909 Great Britain. 17,808 12/1915 Great Britain. 302,119 10/1932 Italy. 179,403 11/ 1935 Switzerland.

DANIEL BLUM, Primary Examiner. 

